Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, a year had passed since the Nine-Tails invaded Konoha.
Now, on Konoha's Back Mountain, by the same stream where Ruri had always trained.
Ruri spoke softly, then thrust his palm toward two trees standing side by side twenty meters away.
"Eight Trigrams: Mountain Crusher!"
Boom!
The tremendously powerful chakra shock wave was like an invisible laser, blasting apart the two thick trees.
Ruri had learned this ninjutsu, Eight Trigrams: Mountain Crusher, from the ninjutsu encyclopedia inside the Ring. Compared with the Hyuga Main Family's ordinary Eight Trigrams Palm: Vacuum Palm, this ninjutsu had greater range, more concentrated force, and greater power.
Throughout the year, Ruri had trained rain or shine, never stopping for even a single day. Through his own hard work and the Ring's help, his chakra reserves had finally reached jonin level.
His dedication had paid off. Ruri had grown considerably over the year, and he had also developed stronger moves using the Flame-Flame Fruit within him. His Flame-Flame Fruit powers had already reached the level of a vice admiral in the world of the Pirate King.
Although Ruri practiced his Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms every day as well, he had yet to reach the point of breaking through its bottleneck. After all, it had not been very long since his last breakthrough.
In the year since the Nine-Tails invaded Konoha, Ruri had grown a little taller than the year before, looking more like a boy of eight or nine.
Judging by the timing, war between Konoha and the Cloud Ninja should be breaking out soon. I wonder when I'll get to fight on the battlefield... Sensing the inexhaustible strength within his body, Ruri thought, *I still haven't used any of those Flame-Flame Fruit